Killing Beauty

Haldir could not understand why there were no Osriders trailing them. Ashva had killed their captain and had freed him and the princess. Didn't Mother want some sort of revenge? And with two days of riding under their belts, he was beginning to calm down and to think more clearly. Ashva had hurt him, although the physical pain had been nothing to the mental pain. He had never appreciated the turmoil helpless people went through until it applied to him. Being bound for three days, being told over and over that he was going to wind up an offering for Sauron had preyed on his thoughts. And when Ashva was there, she was exciting him to such passions he thought his heart would burst. And her licking the blood off his beast. He still felt the strange sensation of burning pain and extreme desire. It was enough to drive him mad thinking about it.
Then there were things that had happened to him when Ashva was not around. Things he did not want to think about but could not forget as they played behind his eyelids everytime he closed them. Those images more than anything made him want to scream and kill something.

The third day in the mountains began with a cold storm that left behind treacherous footing for he horses. Unwilling to risk them, Haldir opted to stay at their camp for another day. The princess who now had a name, Valiel, was constantly chattering about something, her voice by and far the only noise for miles around. Haldir and Ashva did not speak to each except to give directions or make statements about the way things were going. Being a wise young female, Valiel could see that whatever bond that had existed between the two was now broken. Ashva looked sad. Haldir looked lonely.

Haldir saw through Valiel's flirtations and only smiled. Lady Galadriel probably had bigger plans for her little sister than a Marchwarden's bed. He was only half listening to her when he thought he heard something else move in the rocks over them, but with the rain coming down hard, it was probably a mudslide.

Ashva, close to committing murder, grabbed her bow and strung it. She had to get out of there.

"Where are you going?" Haldir asked.

"I need to go kill something," she answered indifferently and slipped off into the rain, her hood over her head. She wasn't going to go too far, just far enough to calm down and think and maybe kill something to eat.

She climbed a ridge and paused to have a look around. The rain didn't look like it was going to let up, but she didn't care. It was clean and fresh, and when she raised her head and opened her mouth, it tasted good. Seeing something move below her, she readied her bow and eased towards it. Slipping under some trees, she took a step forward, and then the ground fell in under her. Too startled to yelp, she reached for the edge of the pit but found that she didn't drop any farther than her hips. Scolding herself for stepping into what must have been an animal burrow, she tried to pull herself out and would have but for the gloved hand that reached down to her.

Accepting the hand, she looked up into a face that she knew better than her own. "Hello, Ashva," he said in a soft, dangerously sensuous voice.

"As'pa," she answered fearfully. "I thought you were in the East."

"Came back last night," her brother answered readily. "After you and Inda had retired for the evening. Too bad about Inda."

Ashva was genuinely afraid of her beautiful brother. His black hair hung like silk down his back, and his eyes were as gray as storm clouds. He was the exact opposite of Haldir in every way but one, he knew how to kill.

"Why are you here?" Ashva asked, although she was certain she already knew the answer.

He smiled. "Mother sent me. I am to bring you back home. But first I have to deal with your lover, and if I like the princess, I'll deal with her too."

"He's not my lover anymore," she answered, hoping she sounded truthful.

"Then you're a fool," he retorted and turned her around. Before she knew what he was doing, he had her hands bound behind her back. "There," he said and turned her back to face him. "Let's wait and see if you're telling me the truth or not. In the mean time, come." He led her farther into the wood, and when he found a tree that he liked, he sat her down and bound her to it. And since he didn't want her making any noise until he was ready, he stuffed a silken scarf into her mouth. Then he took a seat beside her. Actually he reclined beside her like a leopard.

"So how long have you and the elf been lovers?" Amused by his own question, he removed the scarf from her mouth. "Sorry."

"Not long," she answered breathlessly, realizing that talking with him would keep it out of her mouth.

"I saw where Mother left her ribbon on him," he commented thoughtfully with a touch of avarice in his voice. "it wasn't fresh, but I don't mind." Ashva stared at him in disbelief. "Oh, he didn't tell you? I had him...well, almost. I took what I could get." He shrugged his shoulders. "I do believe he was afraid I would go further, but I didn't have the time."

Ashva said nothing to that. Her brother had always had unusual passions, the more they were forbidden, the more he desired them. "Why not just take me back now," she said. "At least mothe can have her revenge on me."

He chuckled softly. "Oh no, dear," he mused. " I've been promised an elven princess, and I mean to have her. And I mean to kill your lover."

"He won't be so easy to kill," she said.

"And you say you're not lovers," he taunted. "That is the conviction of a woman who believes in a man...or in your case, elf. I look forward to testing myself against him."

"You will lose," she warned her brother. "You're only half elf. You don't stand a chance."

He frowned. As far as he was concerned, she was just tormenting him. "He didn't look so fierce when I kissed him," he informed her. "Oh, yes, and I also know how to draw the sensation out of the flesh. Would you like me to describe it for you?"

"If you think it will interest me," she countered, not really wanting to hear about her brother's unique assault on Haldir.

"Maybe I should show you," he said and leaned closer, his lips close to her ear, his breath sending small shivers down her spine. "Maybe I should tell you how I kissed his ear and throat and mouth."

"It is a pity you have to have your lovers tied down," she shot back at him.

He laughed and sat up. Stuffing the scarf back into her mouth, he said, "Now I need to go find a safe place to wait." Then, thinking about it a moment, he ripped her shirt open and made sure anyone who happened along would be able to see her breasts. "Now keep good watch," he said and kissed her.


Haldir did not want to admit that he was getting worried, but Ashva had been gone an unusually long time. Telling Valiel to stay put and keep the fire going, he grabbed his weapons and went out to look for her. The rain had stopped, but there was now a wet fog drifting over the earth as night began its descent. He found her tracks and followed them to a place where the ground had caved in under her. Dropping to his knees he peered inside the hole and discovered that it was not at all deep and she could have gotten out easily. But what did disturb him were the tracks beside hers.

The way the tracks went further up the mountain, and the way one set seemed to be off balance was most troubling. Someone was dragging Ashva. Reading his bow, he looked around and listened. He could hear the sounds of night birds but nothing else. Easing forward at as best a crouch he do with his great bow, he came to an opening and there was AShva tied to a tree, her head hanging, her shirt exposing more of her than she normally showed in the open.

Perhaps hearing him, she raised her head. Her eyes suddenly grew enormous with fear. He moved suddenly, an arrow burying into the ground where he had been. Straining his eyes to see who had shot at him, he braced himself behind a tree and listened. He couldn't hear anything, not even the sound of a bow readying for another shot. Slowing his breathing until he didn't even hear that, he listened. Then a snap behind him. He sprang away and fired. His unerring shot missed whatever it was.

A voice he had only heard a few days earlier, called out of the darkness, "Are you listening, Haldir?"

Anger rose in the elf's breast. "I hear you," he answered, trying to get a bearing on him.

"Where I am right now, I can put an arrow in her heart."

Ashva heard her brother's threat and would have screamed but for the gag. Haldir moved to the other side of the tree, his eyes searching for the likeliest target. If Ashva was in that bastard's line of fire, then the being had to be either directly in front of him or to the right.

"I suppose a female is easier to kill than a male," Haldir taunted.

"You have no idea," the voice responded with an evil chuckle. "You have no idea.